NORIKO HIKITA
Dear Ladybird staff,
It is a pity that my daughter, Honoka has to graduate from Ladybird soon. She is so settled in this school and enjoying all the activities so much, she will miss this school very much.
I look back the day we came to visit the school for the first time. Honoka was 3 and half years old and she was really dependent. She could never be apart from me. It looked as if she was glued to me. I was worried if she can spend even an hour without me in a strange place, but when we looked in the classroom, she looked at so many interesting works and happy children. Especially, she was very impressed and attracted to the work, washing dishes of snacks. As she was so interested in those Montessori works, she looked forward to the starting day of the school and there wasn’t any trouble on the first day. Cleaning dishes was the first thing she enjoyed doing after joining Ladybird.
Although she started without trouble, she didn’t get settled so easily, because she didn’t understand English at all. Ms Kajal must have had lots of extra work to make her understand what she had to do, but I thought that Montessori method would help her come over this difficulty. In a Montessori, children can work in their own pace, with their own interest. There are more showings than oral instructions. As she didn’t like to be forced to do something, she seemed to be relaxed in Montessori way.
Honoka still doesn’t speak English so much, but lately she has come to be more confident and has started to speak some easy phrases. I appreciate Ms Kajal and Ms Rushika. Thanks for your patience and gentle encouragement. She is now opening her shell little by little.
The other thing, I liked about Ladybird was its group activities like music class and monekeynastix, show and tell , etc. Not only individual work, there were some group activities and the balance was very good. Honoka was not very social at the beginning, but through those activities, she has come to be social gradually.
Finally I thank Ms Monica, Ms Kajal and Ms Rushika for the well-preapred classroom and good curriculum. I thank all the staff for the friendly atmosphere. Every morning, you all said Good Morning, Honoka. Even though she didn’t reply, she felt that she was welcomed in this school and that she belonged to here. I am really glad that I chose this school for my daughter’s first step.
Noriko Hikita (Honoka’s mother)
